June Wrap-Up

Well, it’s half way through July, so you know what that means? A MONTHLY WRAP UP THAT’S HALF A MONTH LATE! Oops.

At the beginning of June I actually made a TBR post and, shockingly, I actually did it! I read the books that I wanted to read plus a few extras. I can at least give myself a pat on the back for that, even if I did (once again) let the blogging part slide.

1. Blue Lily Lily Blue – Maggie Stiefvater: I started out with this one because I really felt like getting back into the Raven Cycle world. Now, unfortunately, I have to wait until next year to read the fourth and final book. I can’t wait!

2. A Court of Thorns and Roses – Sarah J. Maas: A bit of a disappointment, I actually did post a review for this one.

3. The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy – Sam Maggs: There was a sale at my bookstore and this book was only $10 so I kind of picked it up on a whim. I was pleasantly surprised, even if some of the writing made me cringe a little bit (just because of the “fandom” stereotyping) there were plenty of really awesome resources and tips that made up for it.

4. Stardust-Neil Gaiman: This was my first venture in to Gaiman’s work. My sister LOVES his books so I thought I would pick this one up to start.

5. All New X-Men Volume 1 – Brian Michael Bendis: I had bought the first three volumes before I had even read the first so I decided it was about time. I love the X-Men. That’s all.

6. Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris: This was the last one on my July TBR list. I enjoyed it and I feel like it’s a really good summer series.

7 and 8. All New X-Men Volumes 2 and 3 – Brian Michael Bendis: I still love the X-Men.

A Court of Thorns and Roses Review

A Court of Thorns and Roses

By Sarah J. Maas

Rating: 3.5/5 (4 on Goodreads)

As with most of the books I decide to read on a whim, I picked this one up because there was a lot of chatter about it on Booktube. I heard SO many good things about it and most of the reviews I saw on Goodreads gave it 5 stars. I guess I had pretty high expectations, but honestly I didn’t find it as amazing as I was hoping.

THIS REVIEW IS NOT SPOILER FREE! SPOILERS EVERYWHERE!

Here’s the little synopsis from Goodreads: When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Sounds like something just up my alley (when I’m in the mood for fantasy). It started out pretty well, parts of it kind of made me think of The Hunger Games, but not in a bad way. I found the world really interesting and I thought that Feyre was pretty cool. Her family bugged me a lot, but I think that’s a pretty natural reaction. It took a little while for me to realize that I wasn’t really enjoying it that much and I think I really noticed when the romance became more apparent. I felt like it kind of came out of nowhere. I felt like she never really had a moment where she truly forgave Tamlin for taking her away from her family, it just went straight from hesitance to desire. Maybe it’s because she never really resented him for taking her away from her hell, but I’m only thinking that as an afterthought. I suppose that Sarah J. Maas didn’t want to state something like that outright, maybe I just missed something, but whatever the reason, the relationship didn’t feel natural to me right from the get-go.

I kept feeling that way even as the story moved on and the relationship progressed. I didn’t believe it when Tamlin said “I love you” to Feyre when she was leaving, I thought it was sudden and surprising. Then I was even more confused when she found out about the secret curse. I was sure there was going to be some sort of turmoil in the relationship, but she didn’t have a reaction like that at all. Apparently, Feyre had no problem with just being a piece to a cure for this mysterious faerie curse. It only made her more motivated to go save the guy that was kind of using her?

By the end I found Feyre somewhat irritating. I hate saying things like this because obviously the character had been through a lot and perhaps these were completely natural reactions to what was happening to her, but I just found her a little bit annoying. I respect her intelligence and bravery, but I just don’t really like everything that she did. I can’t even pinpoint any specific moments that got on my nerves, it was just her character in general. Oh and don’t even get me started on that riddle! Before I even started reading the italics, I knew that the answer was going to be love, and then when she FINALLY solved it after three months I literally face-palmed. Obviously circumstances are different when a character is living it and hasn’t read or seen dozens of stories with similar plot lines, but oh my god. I guess it’s possible that is why she bugged me so much.

ANYWAY… despite all the criticism above, overall, I did find the story enjoyable. Just not as mind-blowingly awesome as everyone made it seem. The world was interesting and made sense, I never felt confused by how that worked (the map in the front helped). Some of the characters were awesome. I was worried about Lucien in the beginning, but he turned out to be one of my favourites (here’s hoping he doesn’t turn bad in a sequel), and Nesta is pretty cool. I also felt like the story (excluding the flaws that I saw in the romance aspect of it) flowed really nicely. There were a few unexpected plot twists that were interesting. The story also managed to pack a lot in naturally. There were a lot of events, but the 400 pages didn’t feel crowded. Overall, the book was good, I just think I would have enjoyed it more if the romance felt a little more natural, or maybe not even romance at all. Perhaps I would have liked it better if she was going to save a friend or sibling instead (although the book then wouldn’t be classified as a romance novel).

June TBR

I don’t usually make TBR lists like this for the month in advance. I typically find that if I try to force myself to read something I will end up not enjoying it and end up in a reading slump, but recently I’ve been feeling a little bit overwhelmed with all the books that I want to read and I thought that maybe it’s best to have a little bit of organization.

This is what I am going to try to read in the month of June (in no particular order after the first one), who knows how well that will work out. I will probably do a recap at the end of the month to see how well it went.

1. Blue Lily, Lily Blue – Maggie Stiefvater (I actually started reading this one in May, but I will finish it in the next couple of days)

2. A Court of Thorns and Roses – Sarah J. Maas

3. Stardust – Neil Gaiman

4. Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris

I also have a LOT of graphic novels that I have not read on my shelf, so if I find myself getting bored of one of the books then I can easily pick up one of those to mix it up.

“Long Time No See” Wrap Up

It’s been a while. I’m really not good at this “consistency” thing. In my defence, it’s been a busy couple of months at school. Apparently film production is actually hard or something? Fortunately I have been keeping up with Goodreads, so at least I’ve been keeping track somewhere.

In this post I’m just going to quickly go over everything that I’ve read since I’ve been gone and short reviews for each will be coming later. I’m also thinking about doing something along the same lines for all the movies and TV shows that I’ve been watching recently, but that’s just a thought.

I guess I’ll just start at the beginning:

1. Homecoming (The 100 #3) – Kass Morgan

2. The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller

3. Age of Ultron – Brian Michael Bendis

4. The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson #2) – Rick Riordan

5. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl – Jesse Andrews

6. Vicious – V. E. Schwab

7. The One (The Selection #3) – Kiera Cass

8. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – Benjamin Alire Sáenz

9. These Broken Stars – Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

10. The Raven Boys – Maggie Stiefvater